In The Quaint Cottage
by Andie Baldwin
Summary: When Hermione Granger finds herself lost on an escapade from Grimmauld Place, she finds help in an unusual home, but ends up helping another more than either of them knew possible. A slightly more unusual pairing. One shot.


Hermione found herself completely and utterly lost. She'd only intended to go for a brief walk outside Grimmauld Place to clear her head and realised with a start that she no longer recognised her surroundings in the slightest.

"Order domi revelio" She whispered. Lupin had taught her the spell weeks ago, it was designed to guide the caster to the nearest home of a member of the Order of The Phoenix, working almost like a magical sat nav. Hermione allowed herself a small smile as her wand began to pull her down the street. This should lead her straight back to headquarters.

She broke into a run as her wand pulled her a little harder and realised with a jolt that she still had no idea where she was. Within no time at all she was pulled toward a quaint little cottage as her wand returned to normal and she looked at it in complete bewilderment. The thatched roof was the same colour as the windows and beams that decorated it and the whole garden was packed with flowers of every colour imaginable. This certainly wasn't Grimmauld Place. Who on earth lived here? Tonks maybe? McGonagall?

At least it's safe Hermione thought with a sigh as she walked up to the front door, she could floo back to headquarters within minutes and no one would even know she had been gone. She knocked on the door loudly and after a considerable pause, a voice barked out

"Who's there?"

Baffled as to who this rasp belonged to, Hermione quickly replied

"Hermione Granger... I... I got lost."

The door opened a fraction and Hermione realised with a gasp that it was Mad-Eye Moody staring at her through the door with his good eye.

"How is the Order planning on moving your best friend, Miss Granger?" Moody growled.

Hermione felt herself relax slightly as she answered with a shy smile

"Polyjuice potion Sir, 7 Harry Potters all going to different safe houses."

Grunting his approval Moody allowed her into the snug hallway.

"What in Gods name were you doing wondering around the streets at this time and getting yourself lost Miss Granger? We're at war in case you haven't noticed!" His voice was raised angrily and Hermione had to remind herself that he was only concerned for her safety as she felt panic rising in her stomach.

"S-Sorry" She stammered "I just wanted to get away from it all for a bit" She looked at her feet. "And it just suddenly hit me that my parents are gone and they don't even know who I am anymore and... And..." She tried to look at him but found she couldn't meet his gaze. "I'm sorry." She whispered, biting her lip nervously.

"... Well... It's ok, I, we all forget just how young you are sometimes, just be careful alright?" His voice was a little softer now. "People may laugh when I say 'constant vigilance' Miss Granger, but it's something everyone should remember. Especially now"

She finally dared to look up at him, realising that they'd never spent any time alone before and drew in her breath sharply as she looked into his face. Blood was gushing out of what was left of his nose and a long, deep gash ran under his magical eye, she was surprised he'd been able to speak at all and felt increasingly guilty that she hadn't noticed immediately, even in the poor light.

"What happened to you Professor?! Let me help, sit down, please" The anxious, pleading tone to her voice made Moody chuckle, a sound which was somewhere between crunching gravel and a dog bark.

"I'm quite all right Miss Granger, I've survived far worse"

Hermione noticed the twinkle in his eye and it was perfectly obvious that what he said was true.

"Even so" she said, still feeling somewhat guilty "I know a little about healing and it really is the least I can do?"

"Fine" Moody said, noting with surprise the concern written all over her face and lead her into the kitchen. "But only if you stop calling me 'Professor'. Hard to teach when you've been shoved into a glorified suitcase."

Quickly Hermione cleaned and healed his wounds with more tenderness than Moody had ever been shown in his entire life, resting her left hand on his cheek to steady herself as she worked. He was very used to caring for all his wounds himself, unless they were life threatening of course. When she had finished she looked at him and said softly

"Is that any better?"

"Yes... I... Thank you." Came the rough and slightly awkward response. He just didn't know how to behave in this situation.

Hermione looked at him with interest and observed his scarred, battered face, harsh features and grizzled hair knowing he was anything but attractive... But in that moment, with both eyes looking down on her and gratitude written all over his features, she felt a shiver of... Something. He was so brave and so strong but he looked different now, maybe even a little vulnerable. She sighed and looked away, dismissing those thoughts and said to him

"What would you like me to call you then?"

"Why don't you call me 'Mad-Eye' like everyone else does?" His expression was neutral but Hermione was sure she caught a touch of bitterness in his voice.

"I don't think so." She said carefully. "It hardly seems appropriate, no one would call Harry or Bill 'Scarface' or something would they? It's a little impolite. Is Alastor ok?"

This earned her an approving look and a bark of laughter which she took to be a 'yes' as he said

"Would you like something to drink? There's tea in the kitchen."

"That would be lovely." She replied with a smile.

Just as Moody went to stand up he winced noticeably and gasped as he sat back down with a shudder of pain.

"It's nothing, nothing." He barked angrily before Hermione could say anything. "My legs just been playing up a bit lately, don't get much time to rest it these days. Would you mind...?" He gestured vaguely to the worktop and Hermione jumped to make them both drinks her heart still beating a little too fast as the image of his face contorted in pain lingered in her mind's eye.

As she brought the drinks over to him she noticed with a wave of shock that he had removed his wooden leg and had sat back to allow his stump to rest on the sofa. He caught her looking immediately and looked rather embarrassed as she withdrew her gaze and handed him his drink.

"Sorry" He said, hesitantly "I just feels better without it on... I, er hope you don't mind...?"

"No of course not Alastor" Hermione replied quickly, a little unsure of using his first name "I'm sorry I was even looking, I just..." She eyed the crease in his trousers where his leg finished before scolding herself and looking back into his face. She was surprised to see that his eyes were soft when he was looking at her and his face was expressionless.

"Perfectly understandable." He said quietly as he began to sniff and stare at his drink suspiciously.

"Oh I'm so sorry" Hermione said shrilly "I should have made it in front of you so you could see, how silly of me. I... I won't be offended if you don't drink it" She finished. A bark of laughter erupted from Alastor as he said

"I'm certainly not concerned with offending you Miss Granger, especially if you're trying to kill me!"

Hermione glared at him in response and said "Hermione, _please_ and fine, I'll make you another and you can watch me if you want?"

Alastor snorted softly and said "That won't be necessary, I can't seem to detect anything wrong with the drink" and he took a hesitant sip. Hermione openly stared at him and discovered she was actually feeling a little nervous which was stupid. She knew she hadn't poisoned it.

"You may consider me paranoid _Hermione, _you wouldn't be the only one, but I have my reasons." Hermione chucked as she realised he sounded rather defensive and replied

"I'm sure you do, and I'm sure it would impossible to be one of the greatest Aurors of all time without taking precautions." This earned her another approving look and she wondered idly why she was even bothering to flatter him.

"Would you like me to take a look at your leg Alastor?" Hermione asked tentatively "I might be able to do something to help..."

At this point Alastor was completely unable to keep the shock from showing in his face. Concern for his wellbeing he had handled, understanding of his paranoia and even compliments he'd been able to deal with, butoffering to look at his mangled, stump of a leg was too much.

"You'd... You'd do that?" His voice actually wavered a little from pure surprise.

"Yes?" Hermione answered, somewhat confused.

"You'd look at it? Most people try to pretend it's not there, especially if it's playing up. They find it – I don't know- disgusting or something. Well, it _is _disgusting. It's a sign of weakness."

Hermione couldn't quite meet Alastor's gaze anymore and she suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to cry and hug him.

"Well" she said, lifting her head slightly but still not looking directly at him "Those people couldn't have been very nice..." She finished, rather anticlimactically.

In the silence that followed Hermione quickly glanced at him and was a little surprised to find both of his eyes resting on her face.

"I... I want to help." She whispered, unsure of why her voice was beginning to fail her. Alastor grunted in response and said, equally as quietly.

"I should warn you, Miss – sorry – Hermione, it's not a pretty site." And with that he roughly pulled up his trouser leg and grunted in pain as the material rubbed what little leg he had left.

Hermione let out an involuntary gasp and quickly bit her lip to stifle any other noise she may have made. What met her eyes was, quite frankly, a complete and utter mess. The stump itself was uneven and had a distinctly blackened tinge to it but that wasn't what had caused her to gasp. On several places the skin was, not exactly bleeding but red and angry with a yellowish, sticky liquid seeping from the sores and she could feel the heat radiating from it.

"What's wrong with it?" Hermione cried "I thought it happened years ago why isn't it healed?!"

Alastor made a noise that sounded like it could have been a failed attempt at a laugh and said gruffly "It's a cursed wound Hermione, which means it can never heal properly. Usually it isn't anywhere near this bad but, as I said, I don't get much chance to rest it with all the work I've been doing for the Order recently."

"But, but you've been walking around on it, I've seen you... It must be agony!" Hermione could hear her voice getting higher "You need to tell the others! You can't keep pretending nothing's wrong it'll... It'll... Well I don't know but nothing good will happen! You might even lose the rest of your leg!" She was suddenly aware of the look of fury on Alastor's face and said, much more quietly "Alastor _please._ You've got to look after yourself."

"Thank you for that Miss Granger" Alastor said, his voice dangerously quiet "but I am more than capable of knowing what I can and cannot cope with and believe it or not, I always 'look after myself'. You've seen my leg now, you know what I have to deal with but that doesn't mean that _anything_ has changed. It's been like this for _ages_, knowing it's there doesn't make any difference." His voice shook a little with the effort of keeping it from rising.

"Well it does to me."

Hermione whispered so quietly Alastor wasn't even entirely sure he'd heard her speak. As she began slowly washing and disinfecting the sores on his leg, he wondered vaguely why he had been so angry with her. She hadn't laughed at him, or used it against him after all, she'd just been concerned for him. This felt a little alien to Alastor, of course there were others who cared about him, most of the Order of the Phoenix for a start but that was probably because they needed him. Arthur and Molly Weasley cared about him on a personal level he was sure, they'd known one another for years. And there was Tonks but, well she cared for him as a mentor, he had been the only Auror who'd wanted to take her on after all, no one else could see past the clumsiness. Why then, he wondered, did Hermione seem to care about him? She didn't know him very well, and she certainly didn't know about his role in the Order, he'd never done anything to directly help her and well... He wasn't exactly the friendliest person in the world. He tensed suddenly as Hermione began to work on the worst part, breathing out in a whistle through his teeth.

"Sorry Alastor" Hermione said quietly, still finding the fact that the Auror could even feel pain a little odd. He grunted again and she continued to clean and heal the infected parts on his leg as best she could, suddenly feeling rather protective of him.

"There." She said finally "That's the best I can do, it's a bit better but really it needs time to heal properly." Hermione braced herself for another telling off but it didn't come. Instead Alastor regarded her carefully and said

"I can't. I can't move round without putting the wooden leg back on" Hermione heard the unasked question in his voice and quickly conjured a pair of ordinary, muggle crutches and handed them to him.

"With these you could at least take the wooden leg off and keep your weight off it when you're at home." She said, cautiously.

Alastor eyed the crutches with interest before giving them a quick test run through the kitchen to the lounge and back again. Although he was rather unsteady to begin with, Hermione knew better than to try and help him so she remained seated and grinned at him as he collapsed back down smiling at her sheepishly. Feeling a little more confident because of his positive response she moved closer to him and began folding his trouser leg back up.

"It'll help to get some air to the sore patches as well" She said pulling some safety pins out of her beaded bag and barely noticing how he tensed as her fingers brushed his skin.

"Hermione" Alastor said quietly, concentrating on keeping the emotion out of his voice. "Thank you." He was so touched by this random act of kindness he could feel a familiar lump rising in his throat and felt something stirring deep down in his chest that he thought had died years ago. He found this reaction, rather embarrassing.

Hermione smiled at him then suppressed a laugh as she said "Surely it's not _that_ shocking when someone does something to make your life a little easier?" Alastor grunted again and tried to make his face neutral once more.

"Well, you should be getting back to Grimmauld Place Hermione." Alastor growled.

"Yes... I should" replied Hermione, suddenly not wanting to leave anymore"but maybe I could stay here? Just for a little bit longer obviously, if you don't mind of course?" She finished quickly.

Alastor snorted in amusement, not many people usually wanted to stay in his company any longer than was necessary.

"Fine. I'll send them an owl so they know where you are." And with that he left, leaving her alone in the room and finally giving her time to contemplate how odd it seemed that such a rough, tough and surly individual lived in such a beautiful, delicate little house. Hermione smiled to herself as she thought of him watering the flowers and mowing the lawns, she felt like she was trying to imagine Dumbledore doing the dishes or Snape reading to little children. _Snape._ Don't think about _him_.

"Well I suppose you'll want feeding then." Alastor declared as he came back "What d'you want?"

"I don't mind, really." Hermione replied as she followed him towards the fridge freezer which stood to attention and doubled in size as Alastor approached it and together, they set about making dinner. How easily they could talk surprised them both a little, although they ate the majority of their meal in a companionable silence.

Once they had finished, the dishes instantly flew to the sink and began washing themselves. Hermione turned and smiled at Alastor, not many male wizards were so adept at household magic. He looked at her almost fondly and allowed the corners of his mouth to twitch upwards a little in response. Together they walked to the lounge, him on crutches, moving with increasing confidence and certainty. Hermione selected a book that she hadn't read before from the many lining the shelves on the walls and settled down on the sofa, pushing her shoes off and curling in on herself. She didn't question for a minute why she felt so at home. Alastor regarded her with interest, he was expecting to feel somewhat annoyed by her acting so liberally in his house but instead he found it a little amusing. He settled himself on the other end of the sofa and began to read the latest issue of the Daily Prophet with a decided scowl on his face. How much time passed like this neither of them knew for certain but the peace and quiet was suddenly disrupted by a shrill cry from Hermione as she leapt up and ran to the kitchen. Alastor reacted immediately by sending hexes and jinxes flying in every direction from where he sat but stopped abruptly upon her return and desperately tried to hide his rapid, frantic breathing and slow his pounding heart beat as adrenaline surged through him.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry _sorry_." Hermione gasped as she approached him, something tucked safely under her arm. She noticed the state he was in straight away and felt very guilty about scaring him so much so she sunk down next to him and allowed him time to recover. Finally he turned to look at her questioningly and she beamed at him. A smile powerful enough to light up the whole house.

"I thought of something to help while I was reading." She explained "It's not much but it'll just soothe your leg a little." She gingerly showed him what she was holding so carefully and he realised, with utter bewilderment, that she was offering him a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel. His confusion must shown on this face because Hermione went on

"You can't put it on the sore parts because it'll slow the healing, but I noticed how hot it felt earlier, obviously because of the infection, which should be getting better now anyway, but, well it can't be very comfortable."

When he still looked confused and didn't take her offering she sighed loudly and pushed his trouser leg up higher to reveal more skin and promptly pushed it onto him, holding it in place and looking at him expectantly. A low, almost inaudible groan escaped from Alastor, evidently from relief but he was still tense from when her fingers had brushed his skin, and she had noticed. Hermione became acutely aware of her fingertips, still resting against his leg and realised just how high up on his thigh they were placed. Resisting the urge to withdraw them, she looked up at face. He coughed loudly and looked away but she thought she had seen... Something... In his eyes.

Slowly, she reached up and brushed some of his grizzled hair away from his face. He tensed even more as she did so, but did not move. Hermione then traced the long gash under his magical eye, examining the new scar tissue, she heard his breath catch in his throat but he still did not move. Next, she ran her fingers slowly along his jaw line, starting at his ear and working her way down towards his chin. When she reached it, she pulled it towards her, making him look at her. They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like hours. Hermione realised what she wanted in that moment. _Him._ Staring into those amber eyes looking back at him so attentively, so tenderly, Alastor realised he'd never seen anything so beautiful.

Eventually he came back to his senses with a slight shake of his head. Coughing loudly again he growled

"You er... Should... Should be getting back soon Miss... Hermione."

"Yes I _should_," Hermione agreed quietly "but I don't want to."

And with that she reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand, her thumb rubbing up and down over his rough, battle scarred skin. He slowly turned to look at her once more and marvelled at how soft her touch was, but he knew what he must do. Placing his hand over hers he pulled it away from his face and brought it down.

"No." He said quietly. "No."

Alastor was about to launch into a speech explaining every possible reason why nothing could ever, _ever _happen between them when he felt something that made him stop. Hermione's hand was still in his and she had wrapped her fingers around his. _They were holding hands. _Alastor stared down at his hand in hers in absolute amazement. He couldn't remember the last time someone had held his hand like that. Still staring down at their interlinked fingers he breathed in and opened his mouth to say something.

"No." Hermione said. Alastor felt her breath on his face when she spoke, although his head was still down.

"I know all the things you were going to say. I know every reason this shouldn't happen and I don't care. _I don't. _I want this to happen. I don't care that you're not _young _or _whole, _or whatever you were going to say.I don't care about your position in the Order. If you think you'd be taking advantage of me then you really are mad which I don't believe for a second. And I'm of age, I know what I want. _You."_

When she'd finished Alastor took in another breath and opened his mouth once more, still staring down at their hands, but again, Hermione stopped him.

"Alastor, stop. You're perfect -"

"LIES" Alastor bellowed suddenly, finally looking up at her, anger in his eyes. He knew he was anything but perfect, he was old, he was paranoid he had a temper and was missing an eye and a leg or God's sake. Suddenly he feared Hermione was trying to trap him or something but he could detect nothing but sincerity on her face.

"Alastor" Hermione said again. "Listen." And he did, dropping his gaze once more. "You're perfect _for me."_ And in that moment, she knew he was. He was brilliant, he was selfless, he'd die to protect his friends, strangers as well if he thought it was the right thing to do, and he wasn't anywhere near old by wizarding standards. He was strong and loyal and clever and caring. The consummate survivor, and Hermione thought he was actually, in his own, warped way, rather beautiful.

Any resolve Alastor had left at that point was gone in an instant and he found himself a little breathless he was so touched by her words. Hermione lifted her other hand to his face and pushed his chin up, forcing him to look at her. Slowly she pushed his hair back of his face once more and stroked his cheek, feeling him relax a little at last. His obvious nervousness made her smile and she pushed her face up to his and closed her eyes as their lips met. The fact that he was so gentle, so hesitant surprised Hermione, she ran her tongue over his bottom lip and sighed slightly as he opened for her. She moved her tongue around in his mouth, exploring him when she felt something out of place. Realising what it was she pulled away from him quickly. She'd run her tongue over a huge scar across the roof of his mouth. As she recovered she looked into his eyes and saw that he was sadly waiting for her to reject him.

"No." She said, reaching up to tangle her hands in his hair and forcing him to meet her gaze. "Alastor I was just worried I'd hurt you." Hermione could see the relief washing over his face with so much power it made her want to weep for him. He had been so sure she was going to reject him.

"You didn't." Alastor replied hoarsely "I'll tell you if you do." He smiled ruefully at her and Hermione pulled him down to meet her lips once more. The kiss grew more passionate this time and the Auror slipped one of his arms around Hermione's waist, pulling her tightly towards him, barely daring to believe this was happening. She responded by pushing herself into him, arching against his hand as she felt his kisses begin to set her on fire. She broke the kiss only to pull her jumper over her head. Then she began on his clothes.

"Wait" Alastor said breathlessly "I don't know... I mean I'm not- not sure if...Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes." Hermione answered instantly and went to break the gap between them once more but Alastor stopped her.

"Hermione, I'm just not sure if... Well, with my leg and other injuries... I don't... I don't know if I'll be able to..." As he trailed off Alastor felt the blood rush to his face, silently wondering how this woman had managed to push through so many of his walls so quickly.

Finally catching on, Hermione felt her heart ache for him.

"Alastor, you haven't... Not since your leg?" She asked slowly, wondering how the world would react if they could see the Great Alastor Moody reduced to a stuttering, blushing, nervous wreck.

He shook his head quickly and turned his whole body away from her on the sofa, shoulders hunched, head down. Hermione reached out and uncertainly laid her hand on his shoulder but he tensed and shook her off. After a few moments tension, Alastor felt her get up. She had left him. He suddenly felt years worth of loneliness catch up with him and felt the tears stinging in his eyes but he blinked them away angrily, determined not to start crying over a teenage girl. He closed his eyes and slumped down against the sofa.

Feeling someone staring at him, he opened his eyes with a gasp and jerked away from Hermione so violently, he probably would have fallen off the sofa if she hadn't grabbed him and pulled him towards her. She was much stronger than she looked. Hermione giggled slightly and tilted her head to one side as she regarded him, her hands still on his arms. She sighed slightly and said to him

"You really thought I'd leave after you told me something as personal as that?"

"Err... Well... Well, I wouldn't have blamed you if you had." Alastor replied quietly, concentrating on hiding how desperately pleased he was that she was still there.

"I'm not going _anywhere_" she answered decisively "and I don't want you to worry about a thing. Okay?"

He could only nod in response and she pulled him into her as they began to kiss once more, no longer holding back, Alastor's kisses became, deep, desperate even and Hermione responded with equal passion, knowing how vulnerable he was in that moment. She began undoing his buttons and roughly pushed his shirt off him, gasping as she saw how scarred his body was. He pulled away from her again and turned his head away from her.

"It's okay." Hermione told him softly "It's okay Alastor"

Hearing that he pulled her towards him almost violently and clung to her and as they kissed she ran her hands over him, following some of his scars with her fingertips until she broke away from him once more. Alastor looked at her apprehensively but she smiled at him and began to gently lick and kiss each and every scar she could find, wanting only to reassure him that they didn't matter to her, didn't change how she felt about him. Her actions made the Auror make a sound close to a whimper and he thought vaguely that he might be having a heart attack as a million different emotions seemed to be playing out in his chest, making him tremble. Finally, she stopped and slowly began undoing his belt and together, they took off his trousers. If Hermione was at all worried about his lack of an erection at this point, she didn't show it. Instead she kissed him fiercely and felt the shaking of his hands as they worked their way down from her hair to her shirt. Hermione pushed his hands away and broke the kiss, smiling at him. She went and stood directly in front of him and with a flick of her wand, music began playing. Slowly she undid her buttons one by one, teasing him as she turned away to let her blouse fall to the floor. She faced him once more as she was down to her bra. Biting her lip at the awestruck look on his face she undid the zip at the back of her skirt and allowed it to fall to her ankles, kicking it away from her and she stood before him, in nothing but her underwear, marvelling at his enthralled expression. Slowly, ever so slowly she reached round and undid her bra, allowing it to fall to the floor in front of her. She walked towards him and took his hands, guiding them to pull down her knickers and she stepped out of them, his expression making her feel truly beautiful. She leaned forward and kissed him, guiding his hands up her body to her breasts and they both groaned as he ran his hands over her nipples. She cupped him through his underwear and was secretly very relieved to feel him stiffen beneath her hand. As Alastor lifted himself up slightly she gently removed the last of his clothing, leaving them both naked and breathless. With a wicked grin Hermione threw herself at him, pushing him back to lie on the sofa, the skin to skin contact making them both gasp as their kisses turned fiery and desperate. Absently she wondered where the frozen peas had gone. Hermione then began to kiss his jaw, then down his neck and chest and stomach, his wiry hair tickling her nose as she reached his snail trail and admired his impressive length, standing to attention in front of her. Then she took him fully in her mouth and sucked hard, causing Alastor to utter an almost primal groan which set her blood of fire as she moved her mouth up and down him, marvelling at his taste and the power she had over the seemingly unshakeable Auror. She released him from her mouth and blew gently on the tip as Alastor shuddered.

"Please" He said, his voice hoarse and her heart seemed to explode from hearing that one frantic word from him. She kissed him once more and he ran his hands over her body then guided her over him and as she lowered herself onto him, they both gasped and revelled in the feeling, all Hermione could think of was how very right this felt, and all Alastor could think was "home." She braced herself on his shoulder as she began to move and once she established a rhythm he began to move with her, his pleasure written clearly on his face and it wasn't long before he was gasping and moaning with every thrust, it wasn't surprising really, Hermione wasn't sure exactly when he'd lost his leg but it must have been well over 10 years ago….

"Hermione." He moaned and she could tell he was very close. Grabbing one of his hands she guided it to her clit and showed him exactly how she liked to be touched as she shifted slightly above him and found the perfect position, feeling the heat building inside her, spreading over her arse all the way down to her toes as she started to feel the first stirrings of her orgasm. Alastor was groaning with abandon now, his eyes were closed and as she began to tighten around him, he moaned incoherently and thrust into her hard and fast, his fingers matching his rhythm and she cried out as she came, going rigid and shaking as wave after wave of bliss rolled around her, tingeing her vision. Alastor was still trying to find his release, his whole body was shaking as he pounded into her, sweat glistened over his chest and she tenderly reached forward with one hand and stroked the hair off his face while the other reached behind her and roughly grabbed his balls and he sat bolt upright, nearly knocking heads with Hermione and his whole body shuddered and convulsed with the strength of his orgasm, he shouted out her name and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him to her tightly as he flopped back to lie on the sofa, completely and utterly spent. As he came back to himself, she stroked his face once more and they were both equally startled to discover the wetness of his tears down his cheeks. Hermione gently propped herself up by her elbows resting on his chest and smoothed the last of them away with her hands, her heart swelling with the amount of feeling she had for the strong, courageous, vulnerable man still buried deep inside her and she kissed him, a long and sweet kiss that left them both breathless and she lay back on his chest, her head snuggled in his neck and they both fell into a contented sleep.

"Tell the Order I'm ill and need to stay here for a few days?"

She asked him sleepily a few hours later, his hands holding her possessively against his chest.

"It would be my pleasure." He answered and they shared a slow smile, full of promise and hope.


End file.
